Columbia Student Posts Epic Takedown Of Columbia
You'd think a "Forum on Ferguson" would be a racially sensitive event. Nope.
In the wake of Ferguson and the Eric Garner case, a lot of people are starting to call out the ridiculous bull hockey around them. Like this Columbia 3L who took to Twitter last night and laid into Columbia over its “Forum on Ferguson.”
See, you’d think a “Forum on Ferguson” would be a racially sensitive event. Or at least a racially conscious event. Nope. At least not the way this student explains it:
@ColumbiaLaw We had a “Forum on Ferguson” the other day. Students made it clear they wanted all members of the faculty to be invited
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
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But that’s not what happened, @ColumbiaLaw. Only a couple of black faculty members were invited, and they were made to sit in the audience
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
Sit in the audience? Surely you jest. There’s no frigging way an institution like Columbia would host an event on one of the most important cases about race in America and not ask its faculty of color to lead.
….while white faculty went up to the podium and addressed the crowd @ColumbiaLaw.
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
@ColumbiaLaw Professor Crenshaw’s comments were the most important of the night, and she had to raise her hand from the audience to speak
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
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Holy freaking God. Kimberlé Crenshaw is on the f**king faculty and she had to raise her hand to talk from the audience?!? No. Just. Wait. No.
@ColumbiaLaw that is unacceptable. Unacceptable.
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
Frankly @AIRofATHENA, this is a bit of an understatement.
You know what else is unacceptable, @ColumbiaLaw . The Interim Dean of our law school being invited to speak. He is offensive.
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
Well, I don’t know about that. But go on.
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@ColumbiaLaw Dean Scott has referred to Latino men in his class as “Jose,” when that’s not their name.
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
Oh. Well then.
Then Professor Victor Goldberg gets discussed.
@ColumbiaLaw During those office hours discussion he has talked about “the blacks,” and about how he can’t say “Negro” anymore.
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
Remember a couple weeks ago when the Army told people the word “Negro” was appropriate? Good times. Pro tip: Acceptable uses of the word “Negro”:
1. When name-checking the “United Negro College Fund.”
2. That is all…
From what we gather, the incident came up when a black student approached him to express discomfort when other students said racially charged stuff and he said something to the effect of, “I’m coming from an era where I’m still getting used to not using the word ‘negro'” Look, I’m sure he didn’t mean to be offensive.” And he’s right, language has changed over the years. It happens. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the 10 minutes required to figure out if you’re — intentionally or unintentionally — being a dick.
@ColumbiaLaw Now let’s talk about Dean MGK for a minute.
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
Let’s.
@ColumbiaLaw why is Dean MGK encouraging black students not to protest?
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
@ColumbiaLaw Why is she telling blk students to make sure they study, bc that’s how they’ll truly make a difference at a time like this?
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
Couple days ago, I wrote an article about how savvy law schools just tell students what they want to hear. This is not what law students want to hear. It’s not that studying isn’t just super. But when you tell a bunch of black people that they need to study you’re kind of implying that black people are somehow incapable of understanding that tests require studying. Which is, you know, kind of a horrible thing to say.
Hey, exams are coming up:
@ColumbiaLaw 1Ls have exams on Monday. Twice this week they’ve been told that they’re country doesn’t care about them.
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
@ColumbiaLaw and they’re supposed to sit in a 3 hour exam and write about civil procedure, property, contracts, torts, or whatever?
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
@ColumbiaLaw with absolutely no indication that the school actually cares about the emotional trauma they are grappling with
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
I’m not one for “emotional trauma.” Literally my heart is made of metal. That said, I’ve not seen two people get killed for looking like me and then have their killers get off so maybe I’m not in a position to say there’s nothing to this.
@ColumbiaLaw your students are your clients. Even your black ones. Now you can show up for us, or we can take our $$ elsewhere in the future
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
@ColumbiaLaw we are not going to let you put our faces in your brochures and not hold you accountable for how you treat us when we get here
— Mother of Dragons (@AIRofATHENA) December 4, 2014
Damn straight. Back to the earlier part about law school marketing, they go absolutely nuts for throwing diversity into their promotional materials. Withholding that luxury is power.
And unfortunately it may be the only leverage you’ve got there.
Columbia, We Can’t Breathe [Storify]